This bundle includes the following publications:
Researching Ulster Ancestors: The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600–1800
PLEASE NOTE: This book is also sold in the UK and Ireland as Researching Ulster Ancestors but is identical in content to the book, Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors. Customers are welcome to purchase either version.
by William Roulston
When the first edition of this book appeared in 2005 it was quickly recognised as an essential work of reference for family historians researching Ulster ancestors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It filled an important gap in providing reliable guidance on sources for perhaps the most critical period in understanding a family’s links with the north of Ireland.
This is territory where some family historians fear to tread. But they need not. This guide opens up avenues for research; drawing attention to the riches of archives inside and outside of the island of Ireland, demonstrating the benefit of often undervalued, rare, even quite unconventional, yet accessible sources – if you know where to look – which can help document your ancestors back to the 1600s.
At more than twice the size of the original, this new edition is a massively expanded version of the first volume. It includes additional information on church records and landed estate papers, as well as new chapters looking at records relating to law and order, emigration, business and occupations, diaries and journals, and clubs and societies.
The extensive appendices to the book include a summary breakdown of the sources available from this period for every parish in the historic nine counties of Ulster (including a listing of surviving pre-1800 church records); a detailed description of around 350 collections of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century landed estate papers; and a listing of more than 500 towns and villages in Ulster with parish locations.
Whether your ancestors are of English, Scottish or Gaelic Irish background, whether their religious affiliation was Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic or other, whether they were farmers, merchants or labourers, this volume will be of enormous value to anyone wishing to find out more about their Ulster roots.
by William Roulston
Researching Farming Ancestors in Ireland is the second book in our "Researching Ancestors in Ireland" series and is the follow up to 2020's Researching Presbyterian Ancestors in Ireland.
Agriculture has been central to Irish life for millennia and though in recent decades there have been significant social, economic and demographic changes, the people of Ireland are still generally thought of in terms of their historic relationship with the land.
The aim of this book is to help those with roots in the farming communities of Ireland find out more about their ancestors. Throughout this volume, attention is drawn to the richness of the documentation held in archives and libraries on the island of Ireland, as well as highlighting a selection of material found beyond these shores.
Prior to the late nineteenth century very few farmers owned their farms outright, but rather were tenants on an estate. Considerable attention is given to the records generated by the management of landed estates in Ireland and how these can help uncover much about the lives of farming families. As the result of legislation passed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the estate system came to an end and an owner-occupier class of farmers was created. The records relating to this major period of change are highlighted and discussed.
There are also chapters on the Registry of Deeds, Valuation records, registers of freeholders and the Encumbered Estates Court and its successors, as well as material created by farmers, such as diaries and account books, and the records of farming organisations, including agricultural improvement societies and the co-operative movement. A final chapter considers documentation relating to agricultural labourers, cottiers and farm workers.
A farmer’s son from County Tyrone, Dr William Roulston is the author of Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors (2nd edition, 2018) and Researching Presbyterian Ancestors in Ireland (2020).
by William Roulston
Researching Presbyterian Ancestors in Ireland is the first book in our "Researching Ancestors in Ireland" series. The next book in the series is Researching Farming Ancestors in Ireland which was published in August 2021.
Written by Dr William Roulston, author of the best-selling Researching Scots Irish Ancestors and Research Director of Ulster Historical Foundation, Researching Presbyterian Ancestors in Ireland is a new genealogical guide to help you find your Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors.
Millions of people around the world have Presbyterian ancestors from Ireland. The aim of this book is to help those with Irish Presbyterian roots find out more about their forebears. It considers the different strands of Presbyterianism in Ireland and explores the range of records generated by these religious denominations and where this material can be accessed by researchers. Much attention is focused on the documentation created by individual congregations, though consideration is also given to the records created by the higher courts of Presbyterianism and other bodies, as well as the personal papers of Presbyterian ministers.
Whether your ancestors were Covenanters, Seceders or Non-Subscribers, whether they were devout or merely nominal, whether they lived and died in Ireland or departed from these shores, this publication will assist you in understanding more about Presbyterians and Presbyterianism in Ireland.